Enemies Come Knocking

What the hell was wrong with those two? Did they just saddle me with a mountain of debt?

Still, the dead outweighed the living in her grievances, and she let the anger go quickly enough.

Song Weishi spotted the two buckets of water in the room—both enormous, nearly as tall as she was. At room temperature, they'd already gone warm.

At least they'd taken care of themselves. These were probably stockpiled from before, since the faucets had long since stopped running.

Those two had been working from home since the very start of the apocalypse. With the extreme heat driving unemployment through the roof, they'd lost their jobs too, just like everyone else. Smart move, though—they'd known to hoard food.

The air outside reeked. Song Weishi didn't bother opening the fridge; the power had been cut for ages, and whatever was inside would be a horror show.

She swept their stockpile of instant food into her space. There wasn't much left, and a lot of it had already spoiled.

Only the two buckets of water were still usable, so she tucked those away as well.

Five minutes inside, and she'd cleaned the place out.

She glanced at the tools by the door—two kitchen knives placed just outside the bedroom entrance. Clearly, they'd been ready. If Song Weishi hadn't burst in as fast as she had, those two would have gotten past their hesitation and come swinging.

The wooden handles were stained dark with dried blood. So they weren't strangers to killing.

No wonder they'd tried to push her off the roof right away. Even if Song Weishi hadn't barged in like that, they'd have been natural enemies from the start.

Song Weishi washed up and sat down, clearing a clean spot on the floor before lying flat.

It was a humble little apartment, but it would do as a place to rest. Even if it was hot.

The floor wasn't much cooler, though. If it weren't for the people and the bugs, she might've just dug a hole and slept in the ground today.

She pulled an ice pack from her space and hugged it to her chest. That helped some. She wiped herself down, and her temperature dropped a bit.

With the heat handled, Song Weishi opened up the cart.

She was late today—it was nearly dawn, and the stock was about to refresh for the second time.

Whatever was in the cart would vanish if she didn't claim it, and she wasn't about to pass up free supplies.

She opened it eagerly.

The system spun, displaying refresh in progress:

Heat-Resistant Solar Panel ×1

Photovoltaic Water Purifier ×1 (Replacement Cartridge ×99)

Cooling Silk Sleepwear ×2

Song Weishi sat up, thrilled. She'd been disappointed with yesterday's haul, but today the universe was practically handing her a pillow the moment she got sleepy.

Everything here was exactly what she needed.

It was so good that she wondered if the system had cheated on her behalf without telling her. The system stayed silent, but a chime announced a new email.

Song Weishi clicked it open—it was a notification for a shop refresh. She eagerly tapped into the shop. This one couldn't wait; you didn't want to miss out on good stuff.

The shop spun once and revealed three items:

Daily Power Card (Empty) ×10 — Special Price: 10 Points

Silver Pistol ×1 — 500 Points

Resident Card ×1 — 50 Points

Song Weishi's eyebrows shot up. This batch was terrifyingly expensive. But there was no countdown timer this time. That golden legendary from before was probably a one-in-a-million thing.

Then again, she hadn't been able to afford that either, but she'd gotten clever and exploited a loophole in the system.

Right now, she only had 850 energy, which converted to a pitiful 8.5 points. She couldn't even afford the cheapest item.

Song, poor, miserable, broke Weishi closed the shop with a resigned sigh. She scrubbed herself clean and changed into the cooling silk sleepwear that had just come out of the cart.

Two sets, so she could rotate. The slick fabric clung to her skin like magic, instantly dropping the temperature wherever it touched.

Song Weishi felt cool everywhere except her head.

She slept straight through till morning without waking once. It was bliss.

She sat up from the floor, her back and waist aching from the hard ground with no mattress.

The midday sun was blocked by the windows, and while the room was hot, it was still tolerable.

She washed up quickly and started cooking—this would be her first proper, peaceful meal in this world.

There was no electricity, but charcoal worked just fine.

She fried up a steak, the non-stick pan sizzling as the bright red beef turned fragrant. Not a drop of oil went to waste—she sprinkled on some sea salt and stir-fried a handful of spinach to go with it.

Paired with instant rice, it was a perfect meal.

After cleaning up, Song Weishi lay back on the floor. Honestly, aside from the heat, this place didn't have many complaints.

The daytime heat was so oppressive that no one even thought about going outside. Around noon, she opened the cart again.

Maybe yesterday's haul had spoiled her, because today's items were completely ordinary:

Xinrou Tissues 240-Pack ×60

Xiaoda Toilet Paper 18-Roll ×5

Baby Wipes 80-Pack ×20

All daily necessities. She'd stocked up plenty before, but these were better quality. Something was better than nothing, and Song Weishi was satisfied.

After lazing around the apartment for a few days, Song Weishi finally got the energy to think about other things.

During that time, the cart hadn't produced anything remarkable.

Just food and drink. The system said her supplies would only flourish if she kept moving; if she stayed lying down like this, she'd only get the bare minimum to survive.

In a normal life, these supplies would keep her pretty comfortable. But this was the apocalypse.

With so little, one wrong move and she could easily end up dead in a ditch.

She hadn't even gone downstairs in days. When she finally stood up to look, the two bodies below had nearly dried out, picked clean by roaches or rats.

It was a natural decomposition ground. Jumpers were a regular occurrence these days, and it was a miracle the building didn't stink yet. Song Weishi noticed the bricks outside were stained red—a result of too many bodies splattering below and never being cleaned up.

The air smelled of burning plastic in the heat. It seemed to be getting hotter.

Everyone was like butter melting in a microwave, waiting to solidify again once the temperature dropped. If this weather kept up, that butter would eventually boil and lose all life.

Song Weishi decided to head out tonight. She'd go back to the riverbank, get a signal, and see what was happening in the outside world.

Every region operated differently now. The people here couldn't help those in the snow, and those elsewhere couldn't help them either.

Everything came down to oneself. Looking at the system's plot synopsis, the female lead had apparently crossed many regions before finding a truly livable place.

She still had a long road ahead. This was just a brief stop to rest.

The daytime was rough—barely anyone came out. Even with the government trying its best, they couldn't provide water and power for everyone.

People like her in the suburbs had long fled if they could, which made this area look deserted. That worked in Song Weishi's favor.

She could leave without worrying about being seen. She just grabbed her bike and rode off toward the river.

Today was the first time she'd been downstairs in days. Just as she reached the ground floor, she heard two people complaining outside the stairwell.

"Boss Qian, do we really think we can find that woman who killed Xiao Hui like this? There's no surveillance anywhere else. The city's huge—how are we supposed to check every spot for people? This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I've already run through a dozen neighborhoods, I'm exhausted!"